New congressional map sparks Dem lawsuits

GOP unveils redrawn map of congressional districtsDemocrats sue over implications for Houston area

Published 5:30 am, Tuesday, May 31, 2011

AUSTIN — The congressional redistricting map released in Austin on Tuesday, drawn by and for Republicans seeking to cement in the party's overwhelming electoral superiority in the Lone Star State, includes one new district for the Houston area and already has drawn the ire of Democrats, who are looking to the U.S. Justice Department and the courts for relief.

Gov. Rick Perry added congressional redistricting to the special session agenda Tuesday, about the same time U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, filed a lawsuit in Austin challenging the lack of a Harris County Hispanic district.

"Personally, the map is fine with me," said the veteran lawmaker, whose district remains largely the same. "But the reason I'm not totally happy with the plan is because I don't think it fairly treats Harris County - and particularly the Hispanic community in Harris County. I don't think it recognizes the huge increase in the Hispanic population."

Green said he and three Democratic colleagues from Texas who represent large Hispanic populations - Reps. Charlie Gonzalez, of San Antonio, Silvestre Reyes, of El Paso, and Lloyd Doggett, of Austin - have sued in federal and state courts in Austin seeking creation of two congressional districts in Harris County with more than 60 percent Hispanic population.

Green said the Democrats' plan would create a second predominantly Hispanic district in Harris County in addition to the one he now represents.

Texas' current congressional delegation has 32 members, 23 of them Republicans. The proposed map puts all of those Republicans into safe districts, including two incumbents elected in districts previously held by Democrats. Doggett is the one Democrat thrust into hostile territory. With four new seats added because of the state's population growth, the GOP map is designed to elect 26 Republicans and 10 Democrats.

New district for Doggett

The Republicans' Houston-area map, shaped something like a sprawling horseshoe, includes neighborhoods in northwest Harris County and then loops north, then east and then south into Jefferson County to the Louisiana border. It is drawn to be a safe Republican district.

Under the Republican plan, Bexar County would get a new Hispanic-opportunity district, although it may be the most controversial aspect of the new map.

In the long-running crusade by Texas Republicans to end Doggett's congressional career, GOP map makers have concocted a plan that shifts the Austin lawmaker from a district where Perry won 41 percent of the vote last fall to one where the Republican governor got 55 percent. San Antonio would be the focal point of the new district, while Travis County would be divided among five districts.

'Split five crooked ways'

Doggett blamed U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, the San Antonio-area congressman who headed the GOP delegation redistricting efforts. "Favoring a twisted map that places most of his district outside San Antonio, Congressman Lamar Smith has joined with other Republicans to carve up communities from the Alamo to our State Capitol," he said.

Doggett, who survived a 2003 effort inspired by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to redistrict him out of existence, said Bexar and Travis counties "would be split five crooked ways, making it difficult for citizens to know who represents them."

State Sen. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said the newly drawn district did not have Doggett's name on it.

"That's a new minority district," he said. Castro's name often is mentioned as a potential aspirant for a new San Antonio-area district.

"That's where the people live. That's how you populate the districts," he said. "As you see the maps for San Antonio, Houston and Dallas, you find out that they're all split several ways. I think that the communities that have been that way for a while find out that it has its advantages."

Seliger said he and his House counterpart, Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, drew a map they thought was best for Texas.

MALDEF reaction

"The Solomons-Seliger map does not increase the number of Latino-opportunity congressional districts despite the fact that 65 percent of the state's growth over the past decade was comprised of Latinos," said Nina Perales, MALDEF's vice president for litigation. "Instead, the map gerrymanders more than 9 million Latinos in Texas to make sure that we have no more electoral opportunity than we did in 1991."

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